We were lucky, for one year, at least. Last summer local soccer fans got to see one of the greats of women’s soccer, Brazil’s Marta, up close here in Rochester playing for the Western New York Flash. Today it was announced that she’s No. 22 on ESPN’s countdown of the top 40 female athletes of the past 40 years. Here’s a link to their story on Marta, the wizard-like midfielder whose supreme skills, speed, elusiveness, grit and surprising strength make her arguably the best women’s soccer player ever. She has won five of the past six FIFA Player of the Year awards and is now playing in Sweden after the suspension and then dissolution of Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), which the Flash won in their inaugural pro season. Back to the ESPN list: If you’re tracking soccer players on it, Kristine Lilly was No. 36, Abby Wambach No. 33, Michelle Akers No. 27 (rather puzzling to me how Akers ranks ahead of Wambach when you consider their goal totals).

CONNECT WITH A FLASH PLAYER: The very popular “Adopt-a-Team” program that Flash did last year, in which a player adopts a local youth team as her own, is back. It’s a cool way for kids to get to know Flash players on personal level. If you want to among the teams that has the chance to be chosen, click here for details or e-mail contact.wnyflash@gmail.com to request an entry form. Do it ASAP. The deadline is Wednesday.

FLASH FACE BOSTON SATURDAY:We’ll get to find out more about just how good the Flash are at 6 p.m. Saturday when they face WPSL Elite leader Boston (3-0), which beat the New Y0rk Fury 1-0 Wednesday in a battle of unbeatens. The Fury, of course, beat the Flash 1-0 last Saturday in Rochester. Boston has beaten Chesapeake 3-0, FC Indiana 4-1 and now NY 1-0. Defenders Tori Huster and newly signed Toni Pressley, along with goalie Colleen Boyd, both return to WNY after a stint with the U.S. Under-23 national team. But WNY will be without starting keeper Brittany Cameron, who suffered a broken jaw in last week’s loss. Either Boyd or Allie Lipsher, who played last year in WPS for Atlanta, will start. U.S. senior national team players, Lori Lindsey and Meghan Klingenberg, continue to be with the Americans in training camp and won’t play for the Flash.

JESSE THE JUGGLER: The Rochester Rhinos (6-0-1) have a big weekend ahead with matches on Friday at Harrisburg and Saturday at Dayton and with an eye toward Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup showdown at Philadelphia (MLS), head coach Jesse Myers must juggle his lineup to keep guys fresh. Look for my preview on that later today.

NO MLS IN CUP HERE: Well, the blind draw again went against the Rhinos. The winner Tuesday will play at D.C. United in a fourth-round Cup match on Tuesday, June 5. Bummer.

Leave a Reply

Jeff DiVeronica has covered professional soccer and the Rhinos for the Democrat and Chronicle since the team's inception in 1996. "Devo's Direct Kicks" takes aim mostly at Rochester soccer, but will also highlight the USL, MLS and U.S. national team play. Devo, his nickname since college at St. John Fisher, also hosts two weekly radio shows each Saturday on WHTK-AM/FM (1280/107.3 or www.whtk.com). "Kick This!" (11 a.m.) features soccer talk, while the Canandaigua National Bank High School Sports Show (noon) covers Section V sports. E-mail Jeff at jdiveron@DemocratandChronicle.com.
Or follow him on Twitter: @RocDevo